hist-brewing: lemonade

[NeophyteSG at aol.com]

In a message dated 5/31/01 9:55:42 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
brewinfo at xnet.com writes:


> Citric acid won't kill yeast, but you won't like the sparkling lemonade
> you make...
> 
> 

Can't agree.  Although I'm still refining the recipe, I make 5-10 gallons a 
summer that are well received ... reminiscent of the old "California 
Coolers".  Most of the current commercial "hard lemonades" contain malt and 
are usually force-carbonated.  I prefer mine.  Nothing more than:

12 lemons
6 limes
10lb sugar
nutrient and ghost hulls
Two-stage ferment:
      Primary: Cote de Blanc
      Secondary: Champagne 


Maintaining some residual sweetness *and* natural carbonation, while not an 
"exact science", is largely a function of using your hydrometer and tuning 
the desired abv, amount of fermentables, and choice of yeast.  My final 
product is around 12%abv and actually too jaw-jacking tart (for me) to drink 
straight out of the bottle.  But it's absolutely *perfect* once poured over 
ice (around 8-10%abv).  You shouldn't get bottle bombs if you monitor the 
must's specific gravity.  You'll be able to tell when the yeast stalls, how 
much fermentables are left for carbonation, etc.  I do believe that the 
citric acid levels do tend to make the ferment a little sluggish but not 
inordinately.

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